Podcast episode

The quarterback Midas touch of Charlie Weis, blended with his reunion with the five-star quarterback who spent four years at Notre Dame, made for such a natural marketing campaign to put Kansas University football back under bright lights.

Weis knows quarterbacks. Crist knows Weis’ offense. It sounded like as good a fit and as natural a recipe for success, as peanut butter and chocolate.

Two games into Crist’s one season as quarterback of KU’s rebuilding football program, the Weis/Crist air attack hasn’t gotten off the ground.

The failure of the passing game was one of many reasons Rice upset Kansas, 25-24, but that’s the point. The passing game shaped up as the one area that wasn’t going to be a cause for concern.

Two games into the season, Crist has a 51.6 completion percentage, an average gain of 4.9 yards per pass and has thrown two touchdown passes and three interceptions against competition that doesn’t compare to what he will face in the Big 12, starting Saturday when heavily favored TCU makes a visit to Lawrence.

Crist’s final throw set the table for the game-winning field goal with no time left on the clock.

On third-and-8 from the KU 27, Crist heaved a rainbow 26 yards. It was intended for Chris Omigie on the left sideline and caught by Rice’s Bryce Callahan. The air came out of Memorial Stadium. Chris Boswell, one of the best field-goal kickers on the planet, readied his mind for a game-winner that would come from 45 yards after the KU defense couldn’t keep the Owls from getting into Boswell’s extensive range.

Afterward, Weis expressed disappointment with all phases of the game and pointed out he would hold himself accountable and refused to play the public blame game.

“I’m not going to isolate any player or any position or any coach on the team ever,” Weis said. “I’ll never do it.”

Weis planned to wake up at 5 this morning to watch the film, and among the questions he’ll ask himself is what he could have done better. He might even challenge his play-calling during one stretch.

So far, running the football easily qualifies as what the Jayhawks do best, and Rice had difficulty stopping stylistically different backs Tony Pierson and Taylor Cox. With KU leading 24-13 early in the third quarter, Cox moved the chains 22 yards on three consecutive rushes to make it first-and-10 from the Rice 28. The running game wasn’t broken, so this was no time to try to fix the passing game. The next five plays: incompletion, incompletion nullified by holding penalty, five-yard loss on a sack, seven-yard completion, a missed 53-yard field goal on fourth-and-18.

Then again, on the final drive, Kansas ran the ball the first two plays and faced a third-and-8.

Weis didn’t question whether Crist should have made the final throw, saying he didn’t have a problem taking a shot into one-on-one coverage. It was far from Crist’s only misfire. He once had Kale Pick wide-open on the right side of the end zone, a situation that seemed to call for a high ball toward the pylon. He missed in the dirt. Under some heat, Crist overthrew Daymond Patterson open on the left side of the end zone. Crist didn’t look elusive in the pocket or particularly quick with his release.

In his defense, other than tight ends Jimmay Mundine and Mike Ragone, who consistently got open for short passes, Crist didn’t have a wide array of free targets to hit, but he did have decent protection most of the afternoon.

Patterson’s the team’s best receiver, but can only bring his maximum contribution to the team if Weis and Crist can figure out a way to get him the ball in space. It’s not happening enough yet.

After a so-so effort in the Week 1 victory against South Dakota State, Crist said he was disappointed in his play. After the Week 2 upset loss?

“Still disappointed,” he said. “I didn’t make enough plays to win, and at the end of the day that’s the most valued trait in a quarterback, is making enough plays to win, and we didn’t do that today, so naturally I’m upset.”

Crist answered questions about the first and last passes of his day, both interceptions.

The first one, on KU’s second play from scrimmage, came on a trick play. The ball was snapped to running back Tony Pierson, who handed it off to Daymond Patterson, who pitched it to Crist, who was hit as he was delivering the ball, throwing the pass way off course.

“There was some pressure,” Crist said. “I thought I could get it off. I didn’t really see the guy coming.”

His final throw gave Rice the ball with 3:37 left, trailing by two points.

“Initial read wasn’t there, tried to give our guy a chance to move the chains and ultimately run out the clock,” he said. “I didn’t get a chance to see too much. We’ll have a look at it on film and see what went wrong.”

Watching it won’t be easy, but very little about playing college football fits that description anyway, and facing TCU certainly doesn’t.

Comments

This isn't fair. I was and am an ardent Mangino fan, but two games in for a new coach isn't time enough to evaluate what the future will be. I was somewhat happy with the way the team played as compared to last year. Weis had very little time to recruit a team. He did a great job under the circumstances. Of course, TCU will be rough. If they are a major problem three or four years from now then you might have a point.

Crist needs plays that allow him some mobility. He can't be as slow as he appeared at times. I am beyond 50 and move better than he did on occasions. He needs a set where everyone takes it for granted he isn't going to run the ball. Faster backs need to be handling the ball on misdirection and deception plays. The offensive coordinator needs to take Crist's ability and inability in to account when devising a game plan.

The Administrators? The fanbase and the alumni are whats wrong. Who in their right mind ever ever ever thought this narcissistic windbag was going to be a good football coach when he's never had sustained success as the chief executive of any football program. Delusional and predictable bunch of posts on this thread. Zenger gave the sheep what they wanted not what they needed. Look in the mirror sheeple.

How is the fanbase and alumni responsible in any way? It's not like we called for Weis' hiring. We didn't even know about it until he was already hired. But for what it's worth, I'm not willing to jump ship on my school's team after 1 bad loss. This program is in bad shape after the last 3 years. I hope this team is mentally prepared to come back from a loss and continue to improve.

Mangino recruited many of the players in this year's Junior and Senior classes. Where is the Junior and Senior talent? The fact is, after winning the Orange Bowl he thought a bigger, better job would come calling, and he quit working hard at finding quality recruits. That's really why he got fired...a 1 and 7 conference record. If he was still winning, the player treatment issues would have never surfaced. Yes, Mangino gave us an Orange Bowl championship, and a couple of other decent years, but at the end he was no longer getting it done. Yet many people on this board refuse to recognize the obvious. He was 1 and 7 in the conference his last season and that was with one of the two or three greatest QB's in school history. You Mangino lovers need to move on. I'm glad he coached us. I'm glad he gave us an Orange Bowl win, and I thank him for that. But in the end, he let us down.

You do realize that 1 and 7 conference record had nothing to do with talent right. Hell if Alabama's AD called a player's only meeting behind Saban's back and threw Saban to the media wolves (like Lew did to Mark) they'd probably go 1 and 7 in their conference too. You can't pin that 1 and 7 on Mangino. After the first five games (5 and 0 btw), it was no longer Mangino's team.

The game yesterday was not a surprise. I for one never bought into the Weis/Crist circus act. Lots of propaganda and noise from the barking carnival dog...Weis, but nothing to back it up. I've said this from day one and have been blasted over and over for my comments. It was obvious to me that Weis was a blow hard with nothing to show as a head college coach or even a coordinator. Super Bowl rings a plenty but prove to me that Weis really earned them. It is obvious now that he was in the right place at the right time to ride the on the backs of some pretty good QBs. He's not what everyone thought he was and he won't become it at KU. He is in over his head and after this one win season his highly touted flock of ex-pro coaches will jump ship. In two years we'll be starting all over again and KU will be digging deep into their pockets to buy out Weis' contract. He'll be laughing all the way to the bank and will only need a couple of UPS boxes to send his belongings back home...to Florida.

Regarding Crist, he is exactly what we should have expected (but everyone was so blinded by the Notre Dame fame), an over the hill under achiever who never lived up to any expectations coming out of high school. Again, what made everyone think he'd be any different at KU when he couldn't even perform adequately at ND with all their 4 and 5 star talent?

This year is a bust and a waste. Weis should have started building a team from the ground up, with high school recruits. Instead he thought he could assemble a team and win games with one year wonders. How that going so far? Younger, long term players should have been getting experience this year instead of the media darling transfers. Weis has used up all his trump cards and we cannot expect him to land any other highly touted transfers like this year. He will now be forced to rely on recruiting HS and Juco talent and to coach them up. He has never done this in his illustrious career and I have zero faith in his ability to start doing this now.

Bag on me all you want (you know who you are) but you now know I've been right from day one. I never bought into the smoke and mirrors that is Charlie Wies. The sooner he is gone the better.

Keegan may catch crap for this article (and me for this post) but he is exactly right here. For Kansas to be respectable this year we needed to have very good QB play. To this point, Crist is a slight downgrade from Webb was not a terrible QB at all.

Plenty of blame to go around. I suspect pass blocking and route running are not points of strength either. The defense and kicking game are not up to par either.

Sounds like a lot of negativity but it's really not. From day 1 we have known this program was in shambles and may need a couple years before we hit respectability. A lot of us (definitely myself included) felt things could take off and we could get to 4 or 5 wins. For things to take off we needed big time production from the passing game and a vastly improved defense. This was never a one year project.

Losing to Rice was a major shot to this years team. The future can still be bright but the present did get a bit darker. We NEEDED to sweep non confidence play to make this season interesting. We got ourselves in a big hole by letting an easy victory go.

Would love to be wrong here and see us steal some games and make some progress but to this point it looks as though things are not on pace for a quick turnaround. I still have all the faith in the world in this coaching staff and look forward to better days. Rock Chalk... Let's find a way to do some positive things this season.

"We NEEDED to sweep non confidence play...". Your Freudian slip is right on the money.

I guess I'm guilty of drinking too much of the new regime Kool Aid. New, tough strength and conditioning coach, more accountability, more discipline, 5-star prototypical quarterback that already knows Weis's system..., I sure thought this team would be much better, even early.

Are we sure Crist's first name isn't Chuck? Because that's what he did on those two interceptions. Dude, throw it out of bounds and let's move on to the next play. It worries me that Crist, as a veteran QB, doesn't think to do this.

Crist, like Webb before him, is not getting much pass protection. It's hard to be accurate when don't have time for your receivers to get open, This year's offensive line is much like last year's. Good run blockers, poor pass protection blockers. I liked Jordan Webb. He was a tough kid and a stand up guy. So far I feel the same about Crist. I'd love to see what he could do with just a little more time to pass.

Ok Squawkhawk... You are right he had all day to throw but what does that mean... Either our OL is one of the best and they shield off for 7-10 seconds or (which what really happened) Rice sent 3 which meant they dropped 8. I don't know if you are good at math or not but when you have at most 5 in routes and 8 covering you better be good with those 5.

Now I'm not saying that Crist or Weis have been spectacular however, being a coach myself and watching the game as a fan I noticed a few things.

1.) Kale Pick is a pretty good WR and having him go down with an injury really hurt the passing game as I didn't see anyone else read coverage and break routes off as he did early in the game.

2.) Crist (minus the last play) was much better with the ball now he threw some errant passes but the fade to the Corner of the EZ to Breshears was outside and allowed Breshears to go get it (which is how you teach a QB to throw fade), The pivot route to patterson was high but DP needs to keep running out away from defender and LG needs to stay on block to allow a much easier throw.

3.) Time management and kicking... is my major concern... up by 2 (if they make the easy FG (of 30 ish yards) or the difficult one of 50+ (which he had the distance on) they win but time management where on 2nd down they didn't bleed the clock a little after the cramp occurred to the rice player and the clock started again. they could have knocked off at least 30 more seconds which still would have given them 3 mins but its all perception as a coach.

Lastly make the tackle on 4th and 4 they throw a 0 yard pass to a TE and there was three KU guys in area and all missed a tackle to give a 6 yard gain make that tackle you're 2-0....

All in all, think headed in right direction. But after watching half the stands empty after halftime (WITH THE LEAD I MIGHT ADD) makes me wonder how people can get on here and bash... GO TO THE GAME, STAY AT THE GAME AND THEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE RESULTS, go animously on here and bash coaches and players.

At the end of the day, everyone... I mean EVERYONE... needs to and is going to improve. Yes, mistakes were made in this game. Several, in fact. Yes, there was some very question play-calling at times. Yes, our former 5-star QB has been less than stellar in a number of areas. Yes, our defense still has a ways to go to be Big 12 caliber. But don't kid yourself. This team is miles and miles ahead of last year, and Charlie Weis (mistakes included) is light-years ahead of Turner Gill.

Yes, this team has issues. Serious issues that need to be worked out. But they also have the feel of a team that is disciplined and just missing the consistency of other programs. We do have talent. Not as much as other Big 12 schools, but there is enough there to compete. What we need to do is improve. From top to bottom, position to position, and coach to coach. Yes, even Charlie Weis needs to look at how to get better with this squad. He, just as much as anyone, is responsible for a number of things that could have won this game. But the thing is, I KNOW this team will improve. I can just feel it. We're going to get better. A lot better.

I say all that because I know the "we've been here before" and the "same as the last two years" crowd is very likely to come out. But don't kid yourself. This team is so far beyond the last two years, they aren't even comparable. We may only win one more game this season, but this is a far better football team than the Turner Gill era. And, unlike the Gill years, this team WILL improve, not devolve. They will be a better team by years end, not worse. So while you might feel like screaming something like the quotes above, or say how horrible this team is, or how overrated everyone is and the hype was ridiculous, blah, blah, blah.... just stop for a moment and think before you do. Yes, they will need to rise above this crushing disappointment, but I do think they will. I absolutely think they will. Just give them that chance. Give them the time to prove they can rise above this. As a fellow Jayhawk, that is all I ask.

Agree. Give 'em a chance. They WILL improve under Coach Weiss. He has only seen these guys play 2 games against anybody but themselves. He will adjust, will recruit, and this will be a team that improves.

Yea well call a spade a spade!! I was pessimistic when Crist come to KU just to follow Weis and improve his NFL chances. A 5 star QB playing with 2-3 star players won't work. If Crist was a true 5 star he wouldn't be at KU period.......
And ex-NFL coaches trying to coach untalented college kids won't work either.
I realize it's only game 2 but my gosh look at the next 10 games?? OUCH. I really expected more. SDSU passing game was average at best and they killed our secondary. The next 10 games will hurt. Hope I'm wrong but I don't think so.

I admire your optimism, and I share some. However, there were many small things that reminded me of the Gill era. Little things that I thought I would never have to witness again. Most came on the defensive side of the ball and included multiple missed tackles. Way too often our players failed to wrap-up or simply overran a play. Also, in an article prior to the beginning of the season, we (fans) were told that the days of the 10 yard cushion were behind us, yet on Saturday, Tyler Patmon could be seen giving his receiver an eight to 10 yard cushion. The result? Multiple completions that went for five to 10 yards. Finally, except on a few occasions, our pass rush was nonexistent. Our inability to get pressure on the QB led to a handful of big plays in the passing game. These three examples are examples of the fundamentals of football (and a personnel issue to some extent). These are examples of players being out of position, and coaches starting players out of position. All spring and summer I dreamed of a fundamentally sound football team. We are not there...yet. I hope the staff addresses these errors, and we see a better product in the weeks to come. And, dare I say it? Weis should take a look at Michael Cummings at QB. Crist is a statue in the pocket, and he needs the ability to make plays with his feet. Cummings has a rocket for an arm, and the ability to run for first downs. Crist, rather than run, fell to his knees on multiple occasions yesterday. I'm sure it won't happen, but if Weis is committed to winning, he would consider this after the performance of his "Golden Boy" over the past couple of weeks.

Agree 100%. Cummings or Baty would run for yardage. I really think Crist falls down to keep from being hurt and damaging his potential NFL career. If this is all Crist has to show then the NFL will be a loooooong shot and flipping burgers at McD's is more likely.
Come on coach at least give the others QB's a shot we all might be surprised.

To respond to your snide comment... While I did not play football at the college or professional level, I was an all-conference cornerback for two years in high school. I understand the ins and outs of the cover three defense. A 10 yard cushion is never required. What is required is that the corner fall back into their zone while a strong safety or line backer drop into the flat. I was simply referring to a comment made by a Journal World staffer stating "the days of the 10 yard cushion were over". Additionally, we do not have the athletes to run NFL defenses and/or disguises. Patmon looked lost all day long. So ralster, thank you for trying to insult my knowledge of the game, and thank you for insulting my Italian-American heritage with your random use of the one Italian word you know, jerk!

I share your conviction that Weis will eventually right this ship. It may take some time, but he is a much better x's & o's coach than what we've had in our previous 2 seasons. However, I will disagree with the cornerback comment. Our d-backs need to be playing up closer to the receiver and possibly even a bump and run style instead of our zone. You're right that the scheme is a zone from Campo, but we will never stop anyone with this defense. They can chunk their way down the field all day long. This is something that needs to change immediately in my opinion. I hate this soft zone crap...

ralster, I was more insulted by your assumption that I had no knowledge of the game. I too am an alumni of our great university. I have high expectations of both our football and basketball programs. It appears that I fell victim to having expectations that may be unattainable. I was and am excited by the hiring of Charlie Weis and the signing of Dane Crist. However, I am disappointed by the performance of both thus far this season. I should temper my expectations a bit as you should temper your impulse for name calling ("glass-jaw pride" and "internet clown"). You appear to be both knowledgeable and intelligent; however, the first few sentences of your reply suggest otherwise. I am a contributor to the message boards, and enjoy reading the opinion and analysis expressed in the second half of your response.

Just one game that got away at the very end. Just one field goal here or there. Just one TD pass here or there. No need to get silly. We have a decent team. Coach Weis and his staff are working with the guys and getting them ready for the next game against TCU.

A lot of the bad habits this team has now started under Mangino after Bill Young left. KU's defense gave 30+ points in 13 of 16 conference games during Mangino's final two years with Clint Bowen as DC. The bad habits this defense has now started with Clint Bowen while Mangino was still in charge. Yesterday's game looked a lot like the vast majority of close games under Mangino and I have no desire to return to those days unlike many who only remember the 2007 season and not all choke jobs KU had the other 7 years under Mangino.

Problem is that this game should not have been close enough to get away at the end. It is obvious that Weis cannot coach college kids and Crist will not be here long enough to improve and make a difference.

Does anyone remember when Mangino took over this program, he had to rebuild through defense! Gabe Toomey started the trend of good, not great linebackers who were solid. The problem is that the defensive line needs some work and needs to get bigger.The hawks are only going to get better with recruiting good talent and making them better. Give this coaching staff some time to build because right now we are playing with a group who only knows how to blow games the last 2 years. A winning mentality is only earned by a team coming together, hccw will right the ship and this team will get better by the end of the year. Jake heaps will be the catalyst to take the offense to another level next year. The recruits for next year are already looking better.
Christ is still a little rusty, but he will pick it up as the season goes along. This team needs a better play selection to counter the opponent's momentum. I am frustrated with the play calling in the second half, if you are going to use a pro-style, use a bootleg every now and then to keep Christ mobile and keep the defense guessing. He has a strong enough arm to throw on the run or pick up 5 yards on the scramble. Hello, the running game was working for you the first half, keep pounding the ball. Pierson was mishandled this game, he is our big play man and should have had more carries.

Maybe because he earns his players trust, he knows the game, and their fans aren't a bunch of cry baby assclowns like ours are. Even when Prince was there and they sucked they sold out games, and our stadium wasn't even close yesterday, or at least not in the second half when I started watching.

You are a moron 470. Snyder has rarely if ever signed any blue chip elite athletes. How obtuse you are to confuse "cheating" with genius evaluation, player development, excellent position coaching, and a never ending work ethic. If the unanimous opinion of the CFB world considered Snyder one of the greatest recruiters of all time, then sure you have to smell something rotten...but thats not what they are saying...they say he is one of the best CFB coaches of all time. Now quit posting silly drivel like this and grow up.

I don't think so. As much as I don't care for KSU, I still give credit where credit is due. To whine and play the "cheat" card concerning their football program puts us in same class as them when they complain about our basketball.

You're an idiot on this one. Snyder built KSU using JuCo players and in-state talent that KU didn't offer. Had Snyder built KSU into a power overnight, there would probably be a lot of questions about how he did it, but he slowly built KSU by not being afraid to use the JuCo's in Kansas. Even though the JuCo kids that Weis brought in aren't from the Kansas JuCo's, he's at least smart enough to know that you have to utilize the JuCo ranks to have any chance of success at a place like KU and I wouldn't be shocked if at least 1/4 of all of Weis' recruiting classes at KU are made up of JuCo kids.

470 I hope you are being sarcastic. If not you are an idiot. Snyder recruits mostly 1 to 3 start athletes to KSU and then coaches them up. We at KU do not know what this is since we've never had a coach that can do this. Snyder's teams over achieve while KU teams, with similar talent, consistently under achieve. It is called coaching...pure and simple.

Right now, this team lacks mental and physical toughness -- the missed tackles against Rice that led to first downs, will be missed tackles against conference competition for touchdowns. Weis has not developed a tough team. Our linebackers are easily the slowest in all of the Big XII. Even when we had angles on Rice ball carriers, our linebackers could not catch them. Weis/Crist combination is not clicking. Crist is a statue out there, he refuses to even run for a first down if all he had to do was walk two steps. This team is very poor -- particularly in mental/physical toughness. Jayhawk teams in the past, under Mangino, have lacked talent before, but they were always TOUGH and assignment sound. We lack in both qualities. I am not confident that we will win another game all year.

KU needs a kicker that can kick off into the end zone for touchbacks and can make field goals from a decent amount of yards. I said the same thing last week. If we had a kicker, we wouldn't be talking about a loss to Rice. Doherty is a good punter. But he is not a good kicker. A 53 yard field goal attempt? Really? I have not seen anything that makes me believe he can hit one beyond 35 yards.
Charlie had 9 months to get a kicker for this team. You have to have a good kicker to win in college football. Ask the Rice fans today and see how glad they are to have a good kicker on the team - four for four yesterday in field goal attempts. The difference in the game.
Also, put Josh Ford on the field. He is the best athlete on the team and he is only being used for special teams? Did you happen to see the 6'5" receiver, #15, Rice had that was tearing us up all day?
Put in bigger, taller receivers so Crist has a bigger target since accuracy is an issue. At 6'4", maybe Ford or Omigie can leap to catch the passes that seem to sail over the heads of our 5"10" guys. Create some mismatches for the other team. Put a bigger target on the field since we can't seem to get the ball to the short guys in space.
The tall receivers are on the bench. They are weapons that are not being utilized correctly. Put them in the game, especially in the red zone, and let's go for TDs and not passes for no gain or passing blindly to short receivers. Give the QB some help and let him get his MOJO back. Give him some confidence. It is a better team than last year and will improve. But for now, we need to use what we have and use it better.

Crist hasn't played a heck of a lot of football over the last two years. He seems very rusty. I still question our play calling, but our biggest failure in this game was poor tackling. As bad as we played in almost every facet except running the ball, we still had the game won if we could have tackled better late in the game. I never ever ever thought this season was going to be anything but 3-9 or 2-10 anyway. We have a long way to go.

I agree with Crist being rusty...sitting that long you don't work off the rust in 2 games. I hate our D...Campo still has our dbs 10 yards off the ball and that is rediculous (they are bad but not that bad). I still think we can get 3 or 4 wins but all I care is that we get better.

It's pretty damn hard to win when you play not to lose. Our d-backs just stand 3 yards past the yard marker, watch the wide open TE make an easy catch, and then make sure to stop him 1 yard past the marker. I am so tired of watching KU and the Chiefs do that, game in game out, year after year. Who do you think you can beat when you just give up?

It's clear that Campo evaluated the secondary and decided that it was best to have the corners play to keep everything in front of them. It takes good deal of skill to jam receivers at the line or play with narrower cushions and be able to turn and run with receivers in decent coverage. I'm sure many of us would rather see those cushions shrink, but with the safeties being sucked in to help cover the middle of the field because the LB's have been having trouble in pass coverage, would we be willing to give up the deeper balls for big gains? It seems that our DC with NCAA Championship and Super Bowl rings has decided to go with the cushions.

The right side of the offensive line is not capable of run-blocking or pass-blocking. That is going to be a huge problem going into conference play. Crist is not going to have time to drop back and find targets; the staff will have to come up with plays requiring quick execution.

I agree. I think it will take Crist the rest of the season to get better, only to be done with his college career. Our running game is our best chance to build offense for THIS year. Weis should build a running game around Cummings at QB. Sorry it isn't working out for Crist, but I hope Weis is not showing him some charity by giving him the QB job his final year. Crist is very rusty and does not have time to get better unless this year is about getting Crist a shot at the NFL. If that is all this year is for... for Weis to make a showing for his old recruits, then its going to be another long year for KU fans.

It was a weird play. Here's my rationalization: Crist hadn't hit a guy on the move all day - almost every reception was on a hitch pattern - maybe Weis wanted to give him one of those easier sideline throws and see if the receiver could add a few yards for the punt.

Trouble was, Crist through errantly again. The receiver was way-off balance catching the ball and ended up being forced out-of-bounds. I think that it was more the execution than the actual play.

i thought the same as soon as I saw Crist release the ball, but if you take a closer look at the play, you'll see that a pair of receivers went out in front of Patterson to set blocks. I must have been the plan that Patterson would catch the ball after the short route (and having had the defenders run off), and worked his shifty magic to get the yardage. You can see how frustrated Patterson was that Christ led him out of bounds on the relatively easy throw as soon as he caught is and looked at Dayne.

Dayne clearly lacks the timing and touch that he needs to have to deliver the level of performance we need back there. Hopefully it's rust, like these guys are saying. If so, and until he starts to tune it up, why NOT throw more swing passes and screens to get our shifty and speedy players into space? Plus, the throws are a little easier and require less trust and timing.

This was a game that never should have been lost. By middle to late in the third quarter we had won the game of attrition and were dominating Rice at the line of scrimmage. Would have been nice to go to a jumbo pakcage for a change up and pound the rock to finish Rice off; go double tight ends, move Mundine to fullback, put Bouban in a tailback and mash it down their throat. That would have psychologically detroyed Rice and swung momentum hard our way. Instead we did not fininsh off the drive that Keegan mentions in the article. Other observations: Pick is by far our best receiver; he runs good routes, catches the ball, blocks, and is a big a target. Our other receivers are very small targets, do not run good routes and have a hard time getting open, and do not catch the ball well. The tight ends we rotate in do a ncie job. O-line is good in spots but not consistent. Running back is a strength, we should go to it more. Defensive line is much improved. Our linebacking core is weak; we get beat at the second level consitently. Defensive backs are a mystery. They tackle poorly and coverage is inconsistent. The times Campo brought heat from the edge our DB's were put in great position but failed to make plays. There is no way he can pressure more because our linebackers and DBs make way to many mistakes. Crist needs to relax and play the game he is capable of; he is not Peyton Manning and should run the play given to him from the sideline and quit over thinking the game. Players make plays and when we needed it most, our guys did not make the plays needed to win the game.

The first two offensive play calls in the game were absolutely terrible, those are plays you put into action when you are playing a far better team. I believe if we would have lined up and ran the ball down their throats and scored a TD on the first possesion we could have taken a huge shot at their confidence / will . . . . instead we throw a pick off of a reverse flea-flicker for an interception and Rice knows they can compete. That being said I do think Rice is better than we think (not an excuse) but we could have started off with much more confidence than we did.

I blame primarily Matt Tait for his lack of objective reporting/ writing, building unreasonable expectations, getting everyone stirred up....... thanks for that........ how 'bout we come back to planet earth now and recognize CW will fail at Kansas as bad as he did at ND....

"Tait is pretty objective...." LMAO.... he has viewed this entire fall camp thru rose colored glasses... he has treated them with kid gloves, however you want to say it, his journalistic integrity is compromised when it come to writing about CW....

Prevent defense, YUK. The only thing a prevent defense does is preventing a team ahead
by a couple of points, to lose a game. Rushing 4 lineman opens a hole up for the offense and gives the QB lots of running room once past the line of scrimmage. And yet teams still
use it.

We should have never lost this game. We had the game won until the last few minutes. We needed this win so bad that allowing Crist (altough there is no doubt he needed the practice) to continue to pass the ball was huge mistake! We should have continued to run the ball and get the win.

BTW - I havent seen any comments on the cable camera. Was this a one-time thing that the news channel installed or was this an addition to the stadium by KU Athletics?

Whoa Nelson...a little sanity and perspective before we throw this coaching staff and team to the wolves.

For some perspective, here's a little trip down memory lane.

Glen Mason, in 9 yrs. produced only 2 winning conference records.
Terry Allen in 5 yrs. produced exactly 0 winning conference records.
Mark Mangino in 8 yrs. produced only 1 winning conference record.
Turner Gill in 2 yrs produced 0 winning conference records.
Charlie Weis?...Going to walk on water and in a few short months turn this team into a winner.

For some sanity let's cast a gaze to that little town to the west that reportedly has a coach who can walk on water.

In Bill Snyder Part 1...he inherited an abysmal team who had won only 1 conference game during the previous 3 seasons. In his first 2 years his teams posted a 2-12 conference record.

In Bill Snyder Part 2...he inherited a team who had gone 5-11 in the conference in the previous 2 seasons. In his first 2 years his teams posted a 7-9 conference record.

Charlie Weis and water wings? A little sanity and perspective, please!

Boy it didn't take long for the KU family to jump ship. Did you expect the new coaching staff to preform a miracle already. They are having to completely turn around a culture of winning. This is the bad thing about being a KU football fan. No one has any patients. I can here the fire Charle chants now. I am surprised that there wasn't a can't wait for basketball post on here. Come on people!!

hey we all were lead to believe by Weis that his coaching staff has improved, the players have improved and everything in general has improved!!!! BUT IT HASN"T in fact the play-calling is PATHETIC and Crist is not the man we need leading our offense. We need a QB that will run for 1st downs when he can or has to and Crist WILL NOT do this!!!!!

After seeing our performance in the first two games, I doubt that we will win another game all season. Let's start and end with an over-rated QB. He is totally one dimensional, and not very good at that. In modern college FB, a winning team needs a mobile QB. Mobility at the QB position presents all sorts of options. Christ is not mobile. If a QB is not mobile, then he better have a creative OC with creative pass patterns and speedy receivers who know how to read defensive coverages and the QB must have great accuracy, like OSU last year. I am not seeing this in this year's team and Christ has been a huge disappointment, as has the play calling. Furthermore, Christ is high or long on many of his throws. Not impressed at all. Unless Charlie has the guts to try Cummings at QB, which I don't think he does as he has already totally committed to Christ, we are in for a long, long season of woe once again in KU FB. I am sick of it.

Few of us are jumping ship, BUT . . . the fourth quarter was a major disappointment. What we expected from Crist was poise and maturity. He showed neither when he took snaps before the play clock ran down in the fourth quarter. He did not show good judgement (which you expect from a fifth year quarterback) when he threw the last pass into coverage . . . instead of out of bounds.

I was disappointed in HCCW's clock management in the fourth quarter. We should have been running the ball (which is where we had success earlier in the game) and running down the play clock. I had expected that Charlie would be a master at game strategy. Yesterday, he was not.

All that said . . . a strong kicking game would have resulted in a Jayhawk victory.

Keep the clock moving in the 4th quarter ahead 24-13. The ball never should have left the ground with a 11pt lead. Poor play calling and clock management. Seems like a no brainer to me, our running game was moving along just fine.

I don't see that happening anytime soon. Texas and Oklahoma would have to give the Big12 their TV earnings for the next 13 years, and Texas would have to kiss the Longhorn Network goodbye to join another conference.

KU looked like a football team yesterday. Some folks should realize how far this team has moved in a year.

Bill Snyder can recruit. He uses the Manhattan as a tool, especially with parents concerned over what type of character their child will be at the end of his college career. Very powerful tool when you see all the troubles SEC have regarding players getting into significant trouble. Big mistake underestimating Snyder.

BTW.....if you haven't seen Manhattan lately take the drive, you will be amazed at the growth. Booming town, fun place to be young.

"With KU leading 24-13 early in the third quarter, Cox moved the chains 22 yards on three consecutive rushes to make it first-and-10 from the Rice 28. The running game wasn’t broken, so this was no time to try to fix the passing game". KU's two running backs were averaging over 6 yards a carry!!

As soon as they passed on first and 10 at the 28 yard line, it was clear that the entire momentum of the game changed. Instead of potentially going up by 18 points by sticking with what was working and nearly locking the game away Weiss outsmarted himself. Make no mistake, Weiss and his playing calling lost this game. It started with the first two plays of the game and then amplified when he began to rely in Crist and not the players who had moved the ball up and down the field consistently. He was out-coached. “I’m not going to isolate any player or any position or any coach on the team ever,” Weis said. “I’ll never do it.” He doesn't need to since he was the problem.

Disappointing play calling by the coaching staff in the fourth quarter and really poor tackling in the fourth quarter gave the Hawks a loss. I agree so far there is not any upgrade in the QB position. Hopefully the coaching staff learned a lot about the team. In any case I am just hoping KU will be compettivie this year and maybe sneak a couple of wins in the Big 12. This will be a vast improvement over the past two years.

Remember Mangino had little work with his first year or two before the team became competitive, therefore Weis deserves the same consideration and time to work it out. My biggest concern with Weis is the same story about a weak defense with no stopping power as was the case when he was at ND. I am hoping Campo can turn this around for Weis.I am thinking Campo will be putting a lot time in improving the open field tackling techniques of the team. ;)

I was at KU in the late 70s, that started with a great team but fell apart when Nolan Cromwell went down. I never left early, and even the games I attend since graduating I stay through the bitter end. I really took loosing this game hard. Almost as hard as losing to Wichita State in the early 80's just before their program was shut down. It was another example of the coaching staff, and the players not mentally finishing.
Coach, I’m about ready for that fist fight.

I'm all for giving a coach time to turn a program around. However, how do you do it by starting 5th year senior transfers? This smells of someone naive enough to think they could do a quick fix, win enough games to get to a meager bowl game, and move on to the next gig. Let's get Michael Cummings in there the rest of the way. This was the last game we'll be favored in (by a bunch).

Jake Heaps is going to be the starting QB next year and he's not eligible to play this year so playing another QB this year to get them experience is pointless when either A) Cummings will be a senior the next time he has a chance to start or B) Baty would be gone before he got another chance to start.

Stop posting about Crist being a 5-star recruit, that was back in 2008. Hell, Andrew Luck and RGIII were both 3 and 4 star recruits that year. Those rankings are all crap.
Crist was nothing at Notre Dame and Notre Dame had much more talent than KU. Crist had Michael Floyd and Golden Tate to throw to and he was still not much at Notre Dame.
What made you think coming to KU and having an inferior roster was going to make Crist any better.

Judging by most of the comments on here and the interwebs, Kansas doesn'r deserve a football program. Most comments are uneducated whining by folks with unrealistic expectations. Half the stadium leaves at halftime! HCCW deserves our patience and our respect. This isn't going to turn around over night. To paraphrase Bill Clinton "It is going to take more than 2 games what was destroyed in 2 years."

Do you not remember the play calling during Mangino's final game against Missouri. KU had the ball up 1 with about 2:30 left backed up against the goal line and Missouri had 1 timeout left. What does logic dictate a team does then? You would think run, run, run and use as much clock as possible and hope you get a first down to end the game. KU's running game was non existent that year thanks to brilliant play calling so odds are even with 3 runs, KU is going to have to punt the ball away with between 1:30 and 1:00 left depending on when Missouri used their timeout. What does Mangino call? Pass, pass, pass. What was the result? Incomplete, incomplete, Reesing barely avoids a safety and Missouri gets the ball back with over 2:00 left on the clock around midfield. A few plays later, Missouri makes a pretty close FG to win a game they shouldn't have won because Mangino made some of the dumbest play calls you could think of for that situation.

If you were a high school player being recruited by D1 programs would you come to a school that only cares about basketball, can’t fill up a 50k stadium, fans leave before game ends? We expect to win even when the expectation is unrealistic. Until the culture of apathy changes we will only see modest improvement at best. An occasional bowl game will be followed by down years after the coach has left for greener pastures. We have a top ten basketball fan base but our football fan base is not even in the top 100.

No doubt about it, that was a game we should have won and didn't for many reasons. Blame is easy and there was plenty to go around. Coach said to lay it on him and that is what real leaders should say. The KU faithful have been gulping down the Blue Kool Aid believing a D-1 program which is about as far down as it can go will be rebuilt like we rebuild the basketball team with two or three great players in a recruiting class. In football, it takes LOTS of football players who are big, fast and tough, and who buy into a system that takes time to sink in and develop. Many of the blogs above have turned to the blame game to soothe their psyches, ready to turn on Weiss, call on the holy name of Mangino, blame the current and past AD, etc. etc. For good or bad, and we won't know for at least two more years (sorry folks because that is the way it is in football) whether Charlie Weiss et al was the right hire or not. It doesn't help our recruiting to look into the stands and see the stadium about 3/4 full on a beautiful Fall afternoon. What we have in basketball and lack in football is tradition that shows up at every home game. They've done it at the other school in Kansas, and now they are doing it in Ames. It takes time and as much as I hated it when my mother told me...we are going to have to show up, cheer, and BE PATIENT. Let's get out our trusty Serenity Prayers and figure out what we can do to help, and right now, that is hang in there with the Old Ball Coach and buy tickets. When we do start to win again, and that day will come, the Blue Kool Aid will go down easy and taste good.

Everything is going just fine. What do all of you expect? Charlie is a good coach and Crist is a good QB. I loved the 4th and 1 call that drew them offsides. The first two plays was questionable, however if it had worked we would've praised the call. I liked the call cause it can catch the other team by surprise and that's what you have to do to be a good coach. You can't be predictable. Good job coach and Crist.

I am a Jayhawk fan and I support them no matter what happens. I will ne there every home game cheering them on win or lose. The one thing I want to point out is UCLA beat a ranked team this week and now will start the week at #24 they beat Rice and we held them to beating us by one which is not a 30 pt blow out. Arkansas lost by 4 in OT to an unranked DII team knocking them out of top 25 did you see that one coming I didn't. Take pride in being a Jayhawk, be there for them, show your support, I you don't want to support them fine don't go to the games and in 2 years when we are competing for the Big 12 championship or going to another Orange bowl don't so up to the games then either if you a true fan your are there through thick and thin. Here until the clock runs out. Rock chalk!!!

Time to step back and take a little breath. This team has the talent. The coaching is better and the S&C is better. If Coach Weiss is really sleeping on a cot in his office I question that this is the best thing for either him or the team. I hope that someone close to him gets him to work on his personal health. Watched the Karate Kid last night and was thinking about balance. Everyone needs it. Slow and steady will win this race. I don't want to see Weiss (who does have talent and drive) burn himself out. This might be a good time for humility for all, starting at the top. Instead of telling everyone what they did wrong maybe the coaches should ask, where do you guys think we the coaches let you down? Right now the players need to believe and perhaps that will help them believe if they see the coaches as vulnerable.
Just a thought.

Otherwise I still don't think this does not mean we can't win 5 or 6 games. Maybe Dayne needs to sit a while. Maybe we need to see what Michael can do. I would not be afraid to tweek a few things. My biggest concern is that I have never been a fan of pro-style offenses in the college game. Eventually that could be, but here and now, um, not so sure.

At the end of the day I just want us to build, be patient and support the team. I will have a lot of opinions, as we all will, but I love KU football and will still support these guys, this coach and this program. A lot of good teams lost yesterday so we are not alone. How we respond is important. Be competitive is all I expect.

It's about making plays, and Crist isn't making them. He would have at least 4 more TDs this year if he was a playmaker. Guys were open. The OL was giving him all day. He could've run for a 1st down on 2 occasions, but threw a bad incompletion. My dead grandmother could make more plays.

The kid looks the part, says the right things and has the backing of one of the best QB coaches in history, but he can't make the plays on the field. He's slow with his reads, he takes too long to release it, he has no instincts, no accuracy, and certainly lacks the "IT" gene.

Michael Cummings or Turner Baty, come on down! If Crist can steal it back from you with a winning desire then fine, but I don't see it happening.

I want to give an example of the good to come. I believe it was on the 3rd down play that fell incomplete and led to our field goal that tied the game at 3-3 in the first quarter. Crist received the snap and dropped back not seeing anything unfold. A second later, he met eyes with the Rice safety who had worked forward and around to Crist's visible side for a delayed blitz. Crist saw him clearly and, instead of taking off or throwing it away in panic, knew that had left Patterson (I think) in single coverage down the left side. At the very last moment, he threw a high but catchable ball to the endzone that bounced off the hands of the leaping receiver, and took a shot from an unabated safety. It was incomplete. I'm so sorry. But that, to me, is poise. The kid is a pro.

So two things: 1) it takes more than a QB to complete passes. There were at least 3 plays that Crist had an unusually abundant amount of time to scan, yet receivers were not open. Why? 2) It is tragically unfair to blame a loss by a single point on an inability of 2 men to perform at the level our expectations dictated they should. For example, Boswell made a PAT after the ball ricocheted through the upright, while Doherty missed a FG that ricocheted off the upright. Where is article saying that uprights may not be as good as advertised?

None of you get it. It's an upgrade. When Crist decided to come it's because he was told he would be a starter. If we don't get him we don't get Heaps. This gets more recruits. Charlie is by far the best coach to come to KU in football. Without him we would have nothing. He's the only coach that KU could hire to get big names. I love the pro style offense. I love the huddle and the QB under center. I was so tired of seeing shotgun all the time and all the players looking to the sideline for the play. I love how Crist does Payton like audibles, which means he's a smart QB.

Please explain to me what big names KSU has for coaching, besides Snyder who was a nobody when he arrived, and what highly touted recruit have they gotten in the past 5 years? Klein was a little recruited WR, Jordy Nelson was an unrecruited DB walk on, and any one of their current running backs were low level recruits. Snyder coaches players up. I don't think we'll see Weis doing that. He will live and die by trying to recruit high level talent to KU and he will fail miserably.

You don't get it. KU is not going to get a coach that can do what Snyder can do. That's comparing apples to oranges. Don't say Mangino! Snyder doesn't coach up a player he makes them look better, by having them in the correct position to make a play. For all the years Snyder's been coach he has probably only had 5 stand out NFL players. Name 10 more players? Klein is not a good QB, Snyders scheme makes him good.

OKAY ENOUGH OF THIS OFFENSE.... WHY THE HECK IS THIS DEFENSE LOOKING THIS WAY? WHAT ABOUT TO TACKLES MISSED AT THE END ETC..... WE ARE SLACKING IN THE LINEBACKER POSITION, OR ARE WE? THESE COACHES ARE CHANGING GUYS AROUND FOR NO REASON!!! EXAMPLE) DARIUS WILLIS, BEST LINEBACKER KU HAS! NOW AT DE? AND THE CURRENT "STARTER" AT LINEBACKER HEENEY IS NOT EVEN AVERAGING 2 TACKLES PER GAME... WILLIS AVERAGED 8 PER GAME LAST SEASON AND IS CLEARLY MORE MENTALLY PREPARED THEN HEENEY OR HULDON. WHAT IS THIS LINEBACKER COACH DOING??????? I DONT COMPREHEND NOT PLAYING YOUR BEST PLAYER AT ALL!!!!!

BACK TO OFFENSE.... WEIS IS CHRIST REALLY SUPPOSE TO BE YOUR SAVIOR? COME ON KU FOOTBALL GET IT TOGETHER!!!

If we give Rice 25. do all the Big 12 teams get 50? Our defense will be worst again from what I see. Dave Campo really, Rice must have averaged 7 yards on first down the whole game, second and 3? And Charlie, throw the ball down the field. I think the play calling is way too conservative. If we are going to win, then we have to attack!

So many negatives, but one of the biggest is clock management. I love the idea of playing to win instead of just trying not to lose but our last offensive drive was an embarrassment. On the third down play Crist snapped the ball with 32 seconds left on the play clock and 2:20ish left in the game. Whether you're trying to be aggressive or not is one thing but that just can't happen. The second down play the ball was snapped with 21 seconds left on the play clock. Just horrible. Even if Weis didn't tell Dayne to run the play clock down, you would still expect a "5-star QB" to be aware of the situation. If this team wins 2 more games it will be a miracle.

2 instances of missed tackles on the final defensive stand that would have won the game. Those can be corrected. What has me worried is the way Crist broke down on his final throw. He had all the time in the world to make a good decision. Then he started to feel the pressure and instead of throwing the ball away he tried to force the throw. And the most concerning part of all, he fell down without being touched, like he was afraid of the pressure. He can have all the physical ability in the world, but if he isn't mentally tougher than that, we won't find much success this season.

I would like to take this time to call out all of the students that are a complete joke to the University of Kansas athletics. Absolutely no support whatsoever for this football team. The game was close and neary 75% of the students left before the 4th quarter. WEAK!!!!! Then you hear them all complainging and whining after the game. KSU MAKE KU STUDENTS LOOK DUMB!!!!!! I'm die hard KU everything but would take the ksu fan base over KU in ANY SPORT, YES I SAID ANY SPORT!!!!!!!! Including basketball because they're all fair weather fans filling up Allen Fieldhouse ONLY becuase KU wins.......The KU students are some of the worst fans in the big12.

And the students would like to tell you that we're ready for basketball season! Until this football team can compete like a Division 1 program they don't deserve to have us wasting our afternoons watching that pathetic excuse for a football team. But please do us all a favor and go back to Manhattan and continue eating goat cheese with your jean-shorts wearing cousin. I'd rather be GREAT and DOMINATE in one sport like KU is than being mediocre in two sports like K-State. Rock chalk a$$hole!

If you think KSU's football team right now is mediocre then you aren't too bright. KU has ONE fan base......basketball. No pride and weak support for others. You my friend are the reason everyone uses the statement "wait for basketball season". Maybe if everyone would've stayed on Saturday they could've made some noise and pulled it off....Fans like you are exactly what schools like KU don't need!!!!!! Kansas 1241, you're the definition of "fair weather" and that's not a compliment........

Yeah I saw the same thing. KU fans are spoiled rotten little kids. I remember going to a KU football games when they gave away football tickets for buying a package of hotdogs. I'm a Jayhawk and always will be but when I see people leaving during halftime pisses me off.

Yeah I saw the same thing. KU fans are spoiled rotten little kids. I remember going to a KU football games when they gave away football tickets for buying a package of hotdogs. I'm a Jayhawk and always will be but when I see people leaving during halftime pisses me off. They all are just there to get drunk and can't wait to get the next drink.

Summation: Conservative plays in the second half, taller receivers not catching the ball and not getting open, QB missing reads, immobile and forcing passes, Offensive Coordinator not realizing Rice has a future pro field goal kicker and not realizing KU doesn't. Hopefully, this will be a wake up call to the coaching staff cause OSU, TCU, NIU and KState, will show them why they should wake up if they don't.

With a bunch of Peanus head posters like 99 yard run(wonder how long he's a been a regular poster) running scared and already talking crap, maybe they'll leave and find another program to complain about.

Though other posters have mentioned Saban's, Pinkel's, Snyder's and Mangino's first years as proof that you can't judge a team/coach by their first year especially when Weis didn't have a full year to recruit.

I'm disappointed we lost but still see Kansas winning 5 games this year. I support Kansas football and won't get in the blame game or finding ways to talk crap because I'm not an insecure, less than successful individual as are many of the stupid posters talking negatively.

Grow some ballz Nancy Downers. Gee, you sound like 5 year olds. Plus we don't need you or your act. Take it to Columbia or jump on the Kstate bandwagon

Even though Crist didn't have a very good game, I don't think he is the blame for the loss. I want to know why KU went away from the running game in the 4th quarter with an 11 point lead? Who does that? Especially the way the two KU backs were pounding the rock!
That is why they lost the game in my opinion! We need to give the team some time toget it together. I like Weis and think he will do good things for KU, but it will take time. Mangino didn't do it in his first year. Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go KU!!!

Bad - There is a reason why Crist did not play at ND. He is inaccurate and immobile. Not a good combo for a college QB. I think he is a good leader but way too many missed passes and he is a zero threat to run. That fact really hurts in college football.

DB's playing 10-15 yards off the ball. I don't think they have to play bump and run on the line of scrimmage but giving 8-10 yards a pop on 2 step drops give the D line no chance to get any pressure on the QB.

Kicker. Both FG and kick offs. SDSU kicker was nailing it into the end zone and we can barely get it to the goal line. Missed FG help cost the game Saturday.

Good - Running game and O line - getting good pass protection and running the ball well. Receivers have been OK. Crist being inaccurate doesn't help them and Pick being out late in the game hurt.

D line - I think has played pretty well. They get pressure when the secondary actually forces a QB to look for an open receiver vs having his first option already open. If the secondary actually covers it forces the QB to have to scramble a bit and gives the D line a sack possible turnover opportunity.

Punter - been great

Return game and coverage game - been pretty good as well

Linebackers are not overly talented or big and fast but give good effort and are adequate.

Personally the QB and secondary play has been the most disappointing. Some of it is coaching in the secondary and play calling offensively.